


Like An Idiot

by AMidnightDreary



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Feels, Fluff, Injury, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Loki (Marvel), Protective Loki (Marvel), idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24303688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary
Summary: When Loki saves Anthony's life, he knows that his secret won't stay a secret for much longer.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 37
Kudos: 446





	Like An Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> I found this in one of my very old docs, and I thought it's cute. Enjoy.💕

Loki had not moved in a long time. He was so tired that his eyes kept falling shut without his permission, but he refused to fall asleep. Instead he kept staring at Anthony, who still hadn't woken up.

Rhodes was asleep in an armchair in a corner of the room. Miss Potts would have been there too, probably, but she was stuck in Europe because of some business Loki didn't care about. She had called a few times. Thor had come by three times in as many hours, but Loki had mostly just ignored him. Thankfully, Thor hadn't talked too much, he'd just stayed for a few minutes and then patted Loki's shoulder before he had left. Nobody else tried to enter the room, and Loki was glad for it.

He really didn't need anybody else to see him like this.

It had been a routine mission. Nothing interesting, nothing dangerous, just Doctor Doom getting on their nerves. It should have gone smoothly, and it would have if Anthony's absolutely _idiotic_ heroism hadn't gotten in the way.

Loki wanted to be angry with him, but he couldn't. He was too tired for anger, or for literally everything that wasn't concern. 

In the end, he did fall asleep in his chair, but only very briefly. He woke up again because he heard something rustle softly - the bedsheets. Anthony was moving.

Loki was at once completely awake. He wanted to dart out of his chair and sit on the edge of the bed, but he found himself frozen in place. He watched as Anthony stirred and finally opened his eyes, slowly and sluggishly. He lifted his head a bit, looking first at the bed he was in and then around. His confused frown turned into something softer when he noticed Loki.

"'oki?"

"Yes," Loki said and finally got himself to move. He carefully sat down on the bed next to Anthony, watching him closely. "How do you feel?"

Anthony grunted, but his lips stretched into a crooked grin. "Like shit."

Loki swallowed. He could barely stand to look at Anthony - he had bruises just about _everywhere,_ and Loki couldn't forget how he had found his friend, broken and bleeding under the remains of a collapsed building.

"You will feel better soon," he promised faintly. "You just need to rest."

Anthony let his head drop back on the pillow, wincing slightly. His voice was still raspy when he asked, "Where are we?"

"In the tower. Dr. Cho came to treat you. Do you - I can call her. If you -"

"M'fine."

Loki didn't believe him - Anthony had to be in pain -, but he didn't say anything.

"What happened?"

"You were an idiot," Loki told him, "as usual."

Anthony laughed - or tried to laugh, he immediately stopped again because it seemed to hurt. "There was that building -"

"Yes, and it was collapsing. And you flew into it." Loki couldn't help it, he started glaring. "Like an idiot."

"Yeah," Anthony agreed, looking like he was elsewhere with his thoughts. "How did I get out of there?"

"The wonders of teleportation."

Anthony immediately understood. He stared at Loki for a while, seemingly stunned. Loki had to force himself not to look away.

"Huh," Anthony said finally. "I - thanks. I guess."

He still looked surprised. And somehow that _hurt -_ because the fact that Anthony was surprised that Loki had gone out of his way to keep him alive told Loki everything he needed to know about the status of their relationship.

Namely that their relationship was practically nonexistent.

“I will leave you to it, then,” Loki said and stood up, avoiding Anthony's eyes. “Your friend is right there, should you need anything.”

Anthony glanced at Rhodes, who was still snoring peacefully. “Oh.”

Loki nodded and made his way to the door, but Anthony held him back by croaking, “Hey.”

Loki stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Yes?”

“There was a kid in there,” Anthony said. “Did you -”

“Yes.”

Anthony visibly relaxed. “Okay. Thank you, Loki.”

Loki nodded, and then he fled the room.

~

The thing was this: Loki had not _meant_ to fall in love. It hadn't been a deliberate decision, he hadn't looked at Anthony Edward Stark and thought, _yes, I think I would like to be in love in you._ That was not how it worked. Now he very much wanted to look at Anthony and think, _I think I would like to stop being in love with you now, thank you very much._

But that was also not how it worked.

Loki knew that it was pointless, of course. It was neither worth his time nor any possible efforts he might put into it, because there was no way it could _work._ Anthony was - well, he was a mortal, for one thing, and that was bad. He was also _good._ That was worse.

Fine, so Loki was on the same side as the Avengers at the moment, but only because it allowed him to kill two birds with one stone. (One of the birds was called Make Odin Think That His Wayward Adopted Son Is Willing To Behave So That He Will Leave Loki Alone Eventually. The other bird was called Thanos.)

But that didn't mean that Loki was _on the same side_ as the _Avengers._ It was only a temporary arrangement, and Loki was very careful not to… get used to anything. He didn't want to get used to the feeling that made an appearance when they listened to Loki's tactical plants with appreciative looks on their faces, or to the invitations to movie and game nights that had been rare in the beginning but reached him twice a week now because if there was one good thing to say about Steve Rogers, it was that he was stubborn. He didn't want to get used to sparring with Natasha, who didn't have anything against his magic, or to the tea Banner made in the morning when Loki entered the kitchen they all shared. He didn't even want to get used to Barton's daft humor and the countless times he'd buried arrows in enemies that had been about to reach Loki's back. And he certainly didn't want to get used to having his brother back.

Most of all he didn't want to get used to Anthony.

Anthony, who had been first to treat Loki like a member of the team instead of an intruder. Who had asked rapid fire questions about Loki's magic and invited him to his workshop several times before he got tired of Loki's polite declinations, and who still met Loki's sharp sarcasm with grins and snarky remarks, who was still _kind_ to Loki even though he didn't have a single reason for it. Who was so staggeringly _wonderful_ that Loki still hadn't quite managed to wrap his head around it.

They weren't friends. They were team members, nothing more. Oh, Anthony had _tried_ to befriend Loki, but Loki hadn't let it happen - couldn't let it happen. And if he spent every second in the tower regretting it, that was nobody's business except Loki's own.

Until the battle, he had been sure that Anthony had not the slightest idea about Loki's secret… secret something. But now Loki knew that Anthony would at least suspect that something was off, because Anthony was the exact opposite of stupid. And while he might not have been an expert at dealing with people, he was _very_ good at reading them.

So Loki spent the next few days having a very bad feeling, which turned out to be justified when Anthony showed up on Loki's floor with his broken arm in a sling and a disturbingly determined expression on his face.

Loki was sitting on the sofa when he heard the steps and looked up just in time to see Anthony stop in the middle of the room and stare at Loki.

“You could have at least asked for my permission to come here,” Loki said. 

“You could have kept me from coming here with magic,” Anthony countered.

Because he was right, Loki ignored him. He took his cup from the sofa table and walking past Anthony in the direction of the kitchen. Anthony followed him, because he obviously didn’t care that Loki _obviously_ didn’t want to talk to him.

“Why didn’t you stop by?” he asked, in a tone of voice that said very clearly that he wasn’t about to accept any subterfuges.

Loki didn’t look at him. He concentrated on putting the kettle on. “Why should I have?” 

“Dunno. I’m always interested in the recovery of people I’ve saved, so -”

“I am not interested in your recovery.”

Anthony sat down on the kitchen table, the look in his eyes skeptical. “Right.”

Loki didn’t turn around to face him, instead he kept staring at the kettle. “Why are you here, Stark?”

“I’m not sure,” Anthony replied. “It’s like, I don’t know. You’re a very confusing person.”

“Why, thank you.”

“I mean, you barely even talk to me, and every time I try to talk to you’re just kinda weird, and that for almost a year now. And then you risk your own life by getting me out of that building?”

Loki clenched his teeth. “Please don’t take that personally,” he said as dismissively as he could. “It was a good way to show my dear father that my behaviour is improving, nothing more.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense. Yeah, I’m sure Odin liked it when you spent all your energy healing me, even though healing other people is something you usually refuse to do, except when it’s Thor. And he must have been over the moon when you sat at my bed for _hours_ although you already knew I’d be alright, and when you were all kind and worried when I woke up.”

Damn.

Loki finally turned around to glare at Anthony, a sharp retort already on his tongue, but he couldn’t get it to pass his lips when he saw how Anthony looked at him - honestly confused, but not angry. Not even wary. Sincere and without judgement. 

Damn, again.

Loki felt himself deflate, shoulders sagging. The kettle whistled, but he ignored it. He couldn’t stand to look at Anthony. “What do you want to hear?”

“The truth would be nice,” Anthony said with a shrug. “Because this doesn’t make a lot of sense, and I don’t like it when things make no sense.”

Of course he didn’t.

Loki stayed silent, and after a long moment Anthony asked, “So, what is it? Do you - like me, or do you _like_ like me, or -”

“I am in love with you,” Loki said, like an idiot.

Anthony stared at him for quite a while, his face blank. Then he said, “You’re in love with me.”

“I am not going to repeat it,” Loki snapped and turned around again to finally take the kettle.

His hands were trembling just slightly, and inwardly he was cursing himself. The silence lasted too long, until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I couldn’t let you die,” he said, looking down at where his tea was steeping. “I _couldn’t._ I - I apologize if I made you uncomfortable, that was not my intention. Now please leave.”

“Let’s go on a date, then,” Anthony said, as if he hadn’t heard a single thing Loki had said.

Loki turned around quickly to stare at him. “What?”

“A date,” Anthony repeated, rolling his eyes. “That’s what two people do here on Earth when they like each other. We can have dinner.”

Loki felt like the planet had stopped spinning. “When two people - like _each other?”_

“Yes, genius. I’ve been flirting with you for months now. Why do you think I keep inviting you to my workshop?”

 _Oh,_ Loki thought.

“Oh,” he said.

Anthony seemed amused. “Everybody knows I’ve been flirting with you. And when I say ‘everybody’, I mean _everybody._ Last week Fury asked me if I’d managed to get in your pants already. I think there are bets going on. You’re an idiot, you know.”

Loki frowned at that. “You didn’t know that I am - well. You didn’t know, either.”

“So we’re both idiots. Is that important right now? Where do you want to go for dinner? My treat. Consider it the reward for saving my life.”

“You may choose the restaurant,” Loki said distractly.

“How generous.” Anthony grinned and hopped off the table. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Enjoy your tea.”

Loki nodded, and then Anthony left. Loki was too confused to think clearly, but he _was_ a little miffed that he hadn't gotten the chance to kiss him.

Well. He would have more than enough time for that later, he hoped.


End file.
